| The Detroit News
The Detroit Lions were without four starters during Wednesday’s practice, their first in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. Defensive end Trey Flowers (wrist), wide receiver Marvin Jones (knee), center Frank Ragnow (groin) and cornerback Desmond Trufant (hamstring) were all sidelined.
Additionally, wide receiver Danny Amendola was limited by a foot injury.
Flowers’ and Jones’ injuries are new after both played their typically heavy workload in last weekend’s victory over Jacksonville.
Ragnow’s suffered his injury last Wednesday’s practice. But despite being questionable for the contest against the Jaguars, he was able to play all 77 offensive snaps. In the event the injury becomes too severe to play, he’d likely be replaced at center by Joe Dahl, who has never taken a regular-season snap at the position.
“Frank’s an incredibly tough guy,” Dahl said. “Groin or any sort of muscle pull is tough. It really inhibits your ability and it’s just painful. I think that Frank is an incredible competitor and he’s not going to back down from anything. I think that it really just speaks to how hard he works and his willingness to do anything for his team.”
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As for Trufant, he’s missed three of the team’s first five games after re-aggravating his hamstring strain before the bye week. The timing is unfortunate, on the personal level, with his former team on deck.
“I think that’s always obviously a great, underlining story every time those situations come up, but I think the reality is we’ve got to just do what’s best for him and best for the team in trying to get him out on the field, regardless of who we’re playing,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “We understand those situations, but he’s working hard to get out there and do everything he can. We’ve got to just be smart all the way through.”